Today's eMo is a meditation on texts for this Sunday's liturgy. As with all the eMos, preachers and teachers are welcome to borrow, with the usual attribution. No further permission is necessary.

Stay with us, for it is toward evening…

Luke 24:29

Maybe the two didn't know who Jesus was, but they liked him. They were attracted to something in him, and didn't want to let him go on his way at the end of the day. In retrospect, it seemed to them that their hearts had quickened when they talked with him about the scriptures, putting the terrible sorrow they carried with them into the larger context of the divine love and the divine power.

And so they reached for the comfort of companionship, at first. Just another human being, a wise and encouraging one with some good things to say, to help them move forward. There are still good people out there, they thought to themselves. This man was happily met. There would be other good souls. Life would go on. It was good to be reminded of that. Lets invite our new friend to dinner.

And it was at that dinner that they realized there was more to hear than the promise that life would go on. More than just learning to live with a loss. More than just a new friend. At dinner their loss was restored. At dinner, the death of death itself became visible to them.

And afterwards, it seemed to them that they had known it all along. Known it as soon as he had started speaking. They hadn't, of course. It had taken them a while to get it – some listening, some thinking, some quiet talking. And it took the breaking of the bread – their last living memory of the earthly Jesus –before they remembered just where they had seen those hands break bread before.